The rising cost of health insurance — and how to pay for it — is a question many families are debating around kitchen tables, strained checkbooks close at hand. Westmoreland County leaders are confronting that same reality.
The county salary board, composed of the three commissioners and Controller Jeffrey Balzer, voted Monday to rescind a policy allowing nonunion employees to buy into the county’s health insurance after retirement. It’s a move that can easily be read as mean and miserly. That reaction is understandable — and incomplete.
Health care is simply expensive. For Westmoreland County, employee health benefits cost $28 million in 2025 and are expected to exceed $30 million this year. Splitting the cost of health insurance with retirees adds about $3.5 million annually. At a time when the county already is grappling with long-term financial strain, that is not an insignificant figure.
The change itself did not come out of the blue. The county has been moving in this direction for years, beginning with labor contracts negotiated as far back as 2007. Importantly, the decision applies only to new hires. Employees who started before Jan. 1 remain eligible for the benefit. That avoids a bait-and-switch for current workers, provides clarity for incoming employees about how compensation is structured and offers transparency for taxpayers — particularly after a significant county tax increase in 2024.
Smart financial decisions do not negate the fact that a benefit has been cut. But by restricting the change to new employees, the county makes clear that post-retirement health coverage is no longer an expectation.
It is similar to the moment when an employer closes a pension plan and replaces it with a 401(k): a line drawn that preserves a promise for some while redefining it for those who come after. That shift reflects a reality, as rising health care costs force employers — and employees — to rethink how a major cost of doing business is managed.
There may be an unintended effect.
Employee retention has become a persistent challenge. Westmoreland County has not been alone in struggling to fill certain positions.
Preserving the benefit for existing employees — particularly those nearing retirement — gives them clear reason to stay. That may reduce turnover costs tied to recruiting, training and overtime, while preserving institutional knowledge in departments that are already difficult to staff.
None of this makes the decision painless. No decisions about taxpayer money and public health care ever are.
Instead, it reflects a broader truth that is becoming harder to ignore: health insurance costs are forcing difficult choices everywhere, from family budgets to public employers.